Ezekiel 33:15

15 [for example], [the] wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores {stolen property}, he goes in the statutes of life [so as] not to do injustice--certainly he will live; he will not die.

Ezekiel 33:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 33:15

If the wicked restore the pledge
His neighbour's raiment, which he has taken as a pledge for money lent him; and which, according to the law, was to be restored before sunset, ( Exodus 22:26 Exodus 22:27 ) which wicked men did not attend unto; but when such a man is brought to a sense of his wickedness, and repentance for it, as an evidence of it he would restore the pledge: and give again that he had robbed;
to him whom he had robbed; as a thief was obliged to do, four or five fold, according to the law, ( Exodus 22:1 ) , and which, when a man did voluntarily, from the convictions of his own mind, and not by force of the civil magistrate, it was a sign of true repentance; see ( Luke 19:8 ) : and walk in the statutes of life;
the rule of life and conversation, and to the keeping of which the promise of long life is annexed; and which preserve persons from dying a shameful death by the hand of the civil magistrate; statutes, which, if a man do, he shall live in them; see ( Ezekiel 20:11 ) : without committing iniquity;
not living entirely without sin, which the best of men do not; but without committing grosser sins, as before; and without making a trade of sinning, and living in it: he shall surely live, he shall not die;
he shall live comfortably now, and happily hereafter; he shall live a spiritual life, and not die the second death.

Ezekiel 33:15 In-Context

13 When I say to the righteous, 'Certainly he will live,' and he trusted in his righteousness, and he [turns and he] does injustice, all of his righteousness will not be remembered, and because of his injustice that he did, because of it he will die.

14 And when I say to the wicked, 'Certainly you will die,' but he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness--

15 [for example], [the] wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores {stolen property}, he goes in the statutes of life [so as] not to do injustice--certainly he will live; he will not die.

16 All of his {sins that he committed}, they will not be remembered against him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live.

17 "Yet {your people} say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' [yet] their way is not fair.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "robbed/stolen [items]"